One of the things I’ve developed a great fondness for in the last few years is Thai food. I first tried it when I was dating a guy some years ago who loved Thai food. In the years since I’ve been unable to shake neither my love of spicy basil noodles nor younger guys who are completely wrong for me. Fortunately, tonight I was only revisiting one of these life choices. Tam’s is the first restaurant in this challenge that is literally walking distance from my home. I still drove because lazy, but I totally could have walked there if I was so inclined. Joining me was a small but dedicated group:
Aimee-Roommate since the 90’s, BFF, allergic to hot dogs and therefore labeled a commie by many
Amy B-Vegetarian Belle, Author, Event Planner
Harry-Wise guy, master of the grill, loves camping for some reason
Durwood-Best friend, comedian, San Diego’s go-to young black non-singing actor
We stood on the stage for this pic. Does that sound odd? You ain’t seen nothing yet…
Located in a tiny strip mall in Normal Heights, Tam’s defies expectations. Unless you were expecting to walking into an empty restaurant in November with Valentine’s decorations up, Christmas lights, Disco ball lights, a stage and a tiny Asian lady asking what you’d like her to make for you, in which case you nailed this place. Tam is delightful. She’s such a character I wouldn’t be surprised if I found out she’s an actress playing the part of an old lady from a Kung Fu movie who has a Katana in her broom closet and the secrets of a thousand-year-old empire hidden in her spice rack. I’m actually still unsure those last two aren’t true. She speaks broken English, she’s sassy and she cooks all the food. It’s very much like we were guests in her home and she treated us as such.
She bulldozed us into recommended we start with a curried potato egg roll with pumpkin sauce. Not wanting to offend our hostess, we smiled politely and sipped our bottled water (which she brought us free of charge and insisted twice we weren’t drinking fast enough) Turns out Tam knows what the hell she’s talking about and can throw down in the kitchen. These were a massive hit with the table. Crispy, rich with just the right amount of heat. Easily worth coming back for alone. This whole night just got as awesome as it was bizarre.
Asian fusion? Indian-inspired? Call it what you will, it was delicious.
It wasn’t long before we had collectively finished enough of our water that we were allowed to order our dinners. Tam was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of food but seemed up to the challenge of feeding this table full of hungry Americans (Look, for all I know she could also be a citizen but it’s way funnier to paint her as the near-offensive film cliche so just go with me on this. Did I mention we love her?)
Aimee had the Amazingly Rich Pork (Batter fried pork loin with coconut ginger sauce and a Yellow Curry paste). She said it lived up to it’s name. Impressively moist for such a thin cut of pork. Aimee called the Yellow curry a nice touch. Harry ordered the Broccoli Stir Fry with Shrimp (with carrots and onion in oyster sauce). He said it was awesome and tasted like Tom Yam Soup. Amy got the Veggie Fried Rice. She found the dish surprisingly light with very fresh vegetables and generously portioned.
Durwood had the Orange Chicken Pad Thai (yeah, that’s a thing) and Lard Nar with chicken (Rice noodles stir fried with garlic and broccoli). He thought the pad thai was wildly innovative and delicious. He called the dish “Some Top Chef-type shit”. He also loved the flavor of the Lard Nar, calling it “Home made with a touch of love”. I tried each one of these dishes and they were fabulous. Loaded with flavor and super tasty.
Then something went wrong. Very very wrong. So wrong that I’m left confused and befuddled.
I ordered the Spicy Thai Curry Noodle (with snow peas, jalapeno, mushrooms, basil and curry powder). My food came out last. I was excited because, remember, I love Thai food and the evening had such promise and got off to such a strong start. This dish… It was awful. It was absolutely flavorless. It tasted like boiled pasta noodles with boiled vegetables. Also a shit ton of curry powder which only added heat. There had to have been a sauce she just forgot to add. There HAD TO HAVE BEEN. Everything else had been so good and so flavorful. I poured some of my left over egg roll sauce all over my dinner and it barely helped. I couldn’t get through it. I was so upset. Also confused but mostly upset that I was going to have to write about this dish during what had otherwise been a stellar evening of food.
We didn’t order dessert. We didn’t have to because Tam brought us donuts. I don’t mean she served us a house dessert based on donuts. I mean an actual pink box of donuts from a nearby bakery. Again, free of charge. This made the evening even more awesomely strange. I was pretty sure at that point Durwood was going to propose to her.
Yeah, totally not kidding about the donuts.
As for my dinner snafu, I have to chalk it up to a swing and a miss. My dish was a mistake. A smudge on an otherwise perfect record. I am determined to return to Tam’s for another go at dinner. She was too nice. Too talented a cook and again, SHE GAVE US A DOZEN F**KING DONUTS. I MEAN COME ON! I’m going back and you should go there too.
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